Transferring Siemens License keys to VMware VM

Alright, I'm setting up a new laptop for our maintenance guys (Panasonic Toughbook). It has Win XP Pro SP3 (with a bunch of corporate IT junk) as its native OS. I've created a clean VMware VM running a clean XP Pro SP3 install. I'm using VMware Player v3.1.4 build-385536.

On one copy of the VM, I have successfully installed RSLogix/RSLinx and have done some preliminary testing getting online through Ethernet/IP and our 1784-U2DHP adapter. I'm not finished testing it, but we need a good Siemens install more than another good AB install, so I made another copy of the original, clean VM. The Simatic Manager (v5.5, SP1) software installed flawlessly, but I can't seem to get the License transferred. VMware sees the USB License key in the native OS and tries to connect it to the VM, but it won't go. I get the bubble in the native OS saying that it's safe to remove (just like when I connect a regular USB flash drive to the VM) but the device never appears in the VM and never shows as "connected". A standard USB flash drive connects and disconnects just fine. I used another computer to move the license from the license key stick to a standard USB flash drive, which went fine. Now, when I connect the standard USB flash drive (that worked fine before), it appears to the host OS like it's the license key stick and the same problem occurs (VMware can't connect it to the VM). I installed just the Automation License Manager on the host OS to see if it would bring a driver for the license key with it, but nothing changed.

I have poked around a little with the network transfer part, but didn't get very far. Even though it's bridged and gets a good IP address automatically, ALM in the guest OS can't find any other computers when browsing. The native OS can, but I don't really know what to do from there. I'm not a networking guru, so I don't want to poke around too much and risk breaking something. I wouldn't think it's really needed anyway.

I then dug out an old yellow floppy disk with a license for Step 7-Basis v5.3. My laptop was able nicely to transfer the license from the USB key to the floppy disk (using a USB floppy drive), but I was unable to get the new VM to see the floppy drive. I actually suspect problems with the native OS since it took a couple of tries to make it show up. Even when it was there, VMware couldn't see it so couldn't connect it to the VM.

Has anyone here successfully made this work? I really like the idea of using VMs to make software maintenance easier, but if it doesn't do much good if I can't activate the software. About all I got from Siemens tech support was that it "should work OK", but that they don't support virtual machines. Basically, we're on our own.

By the way, I'll also need to transfer a license for WinCC Flex and maybe S7-Technology.

You can do a 'Offline Transfer'. It is tedious because of the long numbers that need to be enter a couple times but it works

AJZ said:

You can do a 'Offline Transfer'. It is tedious because of the long numbers that need to be enter a couple times but it works

Click to expand...

That worked great. Thanks!

I didn't have to type any but the activation code since it lets you save a license profile on one computer and open it on the other. That option isn't there for the last step, though.

Another, easier way:
Connect the license USB stick to the PC, and allow VMware to assign it to the active VM. Then transfer as normal with ALM.

Jesper: I missed your reply "back in the day". I tried that first, but it wouldn't mount the license key. It would mount a standard flash drive OK.

As a further update, I recently installed WinCC Flex 2008 and S7 Technology onto the same VM and the license transfers were flawless with the license keys mounting properly and painlessly to the VM. Hmmmmm....